Authorities identify brothers as victims in April 10 fatal fire

BERKELEY SPRINGS - Two of the victims of an April 10 house fire have been positively identified as the young sons of the family that occupied the home, Assistant State Fire Marshal Ed Robinson said.

The victims were identified late Thursday as Charles Edward Diehl Jr., 14, an eighth-grade student at Berkeley Springs High School, and his brother, Jon Luc Claude Diehl, 11, a sixth-grade student at Warm Springs Middle School.

Identification on the bodies of two other victims awaited further DNA testing, Robinson said, but the Helsley-Johnson Funeral Home in Berkeley Springs has issued obituaries for the boys' parents, Charles Edward Diehl Sr., 44, and Faith Hope Franklin Diehl, 44.

The fire was reported around 3 a.m. April 10. The Washington Street home was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived.

Robinson said the fire began in a first-floor sofa, but it was unclear what ignited it.

"The cause is undetermined," he said, "there was just too much damage. We'll never know what caused it, probably," he said.

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A memorial service for the family is scheduled Tuesday at the funeral home. Interment arrangements will be announced later, the funeral home said.